livre
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈliːvɹə/, /ˈliːvə(ɹ)/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - Rhymes: -iːvɹə, -iːvə(ɹ)
Noun
livre (plural livres)
- (historical) A unit of currency formerly used in France, divided into 20 sols or sous.
- 1992, Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety, Harper Perennial, published 2007, page 115:
- They like to see them awarded comfortable pensions. Is it 700,000 livres a year to the Polignac family?
- 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 30:
- He never, it should be noted, totally renounced his inheritance: a critic of the court round, he benefited to the tune of a cool two million livres a year from royal largesse […] .
- (historical) An ancient French unit of weight, equal to about 1 avoirdupois pound.
Derived terms
French
Etymology 1
Inherited from Middle French livre, from Old French livre, a semi-learned borrowing from Latin librum. The strictly inherited form would be *loivre. Doublet of liber.
Derived terms
Descendants
- Louisiana Creole: liv
Etymology 2
Inherited from Middle French livre, from Old French livre, from Latin lībra.
Noun
livre f (plural livres)
- pound (unit of weight)
- (Europe, informal) metrical pound, half a kilogramme, 500 g
- (North America) imperial pound ≈ 454 g
- (historical) various values between 300 and 600 g
- pound (unit of currency)
- (Louisiana) grade (level)
Derived terms
Descendants
- Louisiana Creole: liv
Verb
livre
- inflection of livrer:
- first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
- second-person singular imperative
Further reading
- “livre”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Middle English
Middle French
Etymology 1
From Old French livre, from Latin liber.
Descendants
- French: livre
Etymology 2
From Old French livre, from Latin lībra.
Noun
livre f (plural livres)
Descendants
- French: livre
Etymology 3
From Old French livre, from Latin līber.
References
- livre on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)
Norman
Etymology 1
From Old French livre, a semi-learned borrowing from Latin liber, librum.
Derived terms
- garder les livres (“to keep books, book-keep”)
- livre d'exèrcice (“exercise book”)
- livre d'priéthes (“prayer book”)
Related terms
- librairie (“bookshop”)
Norwegian Bokmål
Norwegian Nynorsk
Noun
livre n (definite singular livreet, indefinite plural livre, definite plural livrea)
- Alternative form of livré
Anagrams
Old French
Etymology 1
Semi-learned borrowing from Latin liber, librum.
Noun
livre oblique singular, m (oblique plural livres, nominative singular livres, nominative plural livre)
- book (collection of sheets of paper in a specific order)
- 1260–1267, Brunetto Latini, “Cist premiers livres parole de la naissance de toutes choses [This first book talks about the birth of all things]” (chapter 1), Livre I - Premiere partie [First book - First part], in Livres dou Tresor [Book of the treasure]; republished as Polycarpe Chabaille, compiler, Li livres dou tresor par Brunetto Latini, Paris: Imprimerie impériale, 1863, page 1:
- si come li sires qui vuet en petit leu amasser choses de grandisme vaillance […] por acroistre son pooir […] i met il les plus chieres choses et les plus precieux joiaus que il puet, selonc sa bone entencion, tout autressi est li cors de cest livre compilez de sapience
- Just like the lord, who wishes to accumulate very valuable things in a tiny place […] in order to increase his power, […] puts there—according to his good intention—the dearest things and the most precious jewels he can, so the body of this book is filled with knowledge
Noun
livre oblique singular, f (oblique plural livres, nominative singular livre, nominative plural livres)
Usage notes
- According to the Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française, the actual measure varied between 380g and 552g.
Descendants
- Middle French: livre
References
- livre on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub
- Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle (1881) (livre, supplement)
Portuguese
Pronunciation
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈli.vɾi/
- (Southern Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈli.vɾe/
- (Portugal) IPA(key): /ˈli.vɾɨ/
- (Northern Portugal) IPA(key): /ˈli.bɾɨ/ [ˈli.βɾɨ]
Audio (Center-West, Brazil) (file) - Hyphenation: li‧vre
Etymology 1
From Old Galician-Portuguese livre, libre, from Latin līber, from Old Latin loeber, from Proto-Italic *louðeros, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁lewdʰ-er-os, from *h₁lewdʰ- (“people”).
Derived terms
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Verb
livre
- inflection of livrar:
- first/third-person singular present subjunctive
- third-person singular imperative